travel tuesday: palm springs

At the age of 17, a friend managed to get me a job at the bookstore she was employed with. It was some regional chain on the rich side of town that I hadn't been in before, and while the selection wasn't good by any means, I liked that I could tell people I worked in a bookstore. After a while, half of my high school group worked there as well (although, a few months in I was promoted to assistant manager but hated the responsibility of keeping my peers on task and quit in the middle of one shift so I could make it to a green day concert... and I don't even really like green day), and a great time was had by all.

ANYWAY, working there was the first time I was exposed to the phenomena of harry potter. I hated it. I hated every single child and adult that came in to buy those thick and unwieldy HP books. I hated the goddamn stuffed white owls we sold, and the little coins and bookmarks and dolls and stickers that seemed to take up half the store. I hated it when children (and adults!) came in wearing capes, threw their wands around, and messed up my precariously built displays.

At that point, I decided I would hate little harry and his friends forever, and never read the books. Even my extreme love for youth fiction would not convince me to read that mess.

...

Cut to two years later, I am working as a nanny and consistently bored out of my mind while the kids napped. After exhausting all of the other books on the shelf of their home, I picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and decided I might as well read the first few pages. Anything to pass the time.

I was instantly in love. I am still in love. I retracted my previous hate for the series and went about reading all of the books that had come out by that point, and eagerly waited for the next edition to be published. I went to the midnight releases of book and movies, contemplated a hedwig tattoo (still contemplating), attended various wizard rock events... general obsession. When I am into something, whether it be a musician, a food, a word (table... table. table, table table. obsessed.) or a book, i am wayyyy into it. It is probably annoying to everyone else (sorry, husband).

Luckily, my friend G was just as into it. Way back when we were 20ish, G and I talked about how we would be almost 30 by the time the last movie came out. I think we even mentioned flying to London for it (did we really think we would be wealthy enough to fly to London just for a movie premier? probably... such optimistic youthful dreams!). So when it came time for the film to come out, we decided some sort of trip was needed. We ended up in Palm Springs for just under 48 hours, and it was pretty rad. In retrospect, I should have worn a scar on my head all weekend, but instead I just wore the same shirt three days in a row.

PS:














some sort of fake fried chicken that was delicious and eaten by the empty fireplace, why does G look so pretty and i look like a wet rodent?, obligatory sign shot, brunchies, evil dog, cold mountain pool, beer in bed, complimentary toes, B on bike, we really did have fun, super henner.